by DOUG COLLIE
Councillors in the Scottish Borders will this week consider newly completed draft asset registers for the region's valuable Common Good funds, a facility which was advocated by external accountants as long ago as 2004.There have been repeated complaints down the years that no official public records exist listing the lands, buildings and so-called moveable assets belonging to burgh funds, some of them bequeathed for the common good by royal charter hundreds of years ago.
In recent years it has even been necessary to create new funds for towns such as Coldstream after research showed property included in Scottish Borders Council's portfolio actually belonged to the "Common Good".
The funds which were once administered by local town councils prior to the reform of local government in 1975 are now under the control of the Borders unitary authority. Between them the various funds are valued at well in excess of £10 million with a proportion of the assets invested on behalf of the council by financial experts.
A proposal for a Borders Common Good public register was one of the recommendations contained in a report from accountants Scott-Moncrieff which received local publicity in January 2005 following its completion for Audit Scotland the previous year.
The Southern Reporter newspaper of 14 January 2005 reported: "A probe into how Common Good Funds are administered in the Borders has revealed major failings. Experts pinpointed a lack of control and stewardship in how parts of the funds are handled and produced a blueprint for improvements. The report recommended a review of assets; closer working between the council's planners and estate officers and drawing-up of a register of what is owned by Common Good Funds."
The subsequent attempts to compile a register became mired in controversy.
Public spending watchdog Audit Scotland, in a commentary on SBC's 2009/10 annual accounts, wrote: "The council has disclosed common good as a separate fund in the financial statements and established a common good register. However, objections have been lodged against the Council in respect of the completeness of the common good asset register, and associated income and expenditure.
"It is a complex exercise to conclude the provenance of assets, and officers from Legal Services, Estates and Finance have been involved in investigatory work to determine whether certain council assets ought to be transferred to the common good asset register. This work is not yet complete and additional specialist resource will be invested in this area in 2010/11."
The pressure on Scottish councils to produce public Common Good registers has been ramped up more recently by the Scottish Government following the introduction of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
Government guidance to Local Authorities in July 2018 demanded: "Establishing common good registers. Section 102 of the Act requires each local authority to establish and maintain a register of property which is held by the authority as part of the common good (a “common good register”). Before establishing a common good register, the Act requires a local authority to publish a list of property that it proposes to include in the register, and to consult on this list.
"The Act provides that the list may be published in such a way as the local authority may determine. The local authority should be consistent in how and where it publishes both the list of common good property and the resultant common good register. Both documents should be available in the same place and in the same format. The local authority must ensure that the public can inspect the list of common good property free of charge and access it electronically.
"Members of the public should be able to access the list from the local authority’s own website. The local authority should ensure that members of the public can view the list in person at local council offices, council hubs and local libraries. The local authority should either produce paper copies of the list or ensure that staff in these locations are able to assist members of the public in viewing an electronic version. Advertising the list
"The local authority should publicise the consultation on its website, on social media or in publications which it produces. It may also be possible to invite expressions of interest from the public or have automated notifications. Equally, if the list of common good property is likely to be extensive, the local authority may also wish to place adverts or articles in local papers to reach a wider audience. Length of consultation. The list of common good property should be made publicly available for comment for at least twelve weeks."
In the Borders case, once local councillors have scrutinised their local draft registers the contents are likely to be submitted for public consultation early next year.
The subsequent attempts to compile a register became mired in controversy.
Public spending watchdog Audit Scotland, in a commentary on SBC's 2009/10 annual accounts, wrote: "The council has disclosed common good as a separate fund in the financial statements and established a common good register. However, objections have been lodged against the Council in respect of the completeness of the common good asset register, and associated income and expenditure.
"It is a complex exercise to conclude the provenance of assets, and officers from Legal Services, Estates and Finance have been involved in investigatory work to determine whether certain council assets ought to be transferred to the common good asset register. This work is not yet complete and additional specialist resource will be invested in this area in 2010/11."
The pressure on Scottish councils to produce public Common Good registers has been ramped up more recently by the Scottish Government following the introduction of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
Government guidance to Local Authorities in July 2018 demanded: "Establishing common good registers. Section 102 of the Act requires each local authority to establish and maintain a register of property which is held by the authority as part of the common good (a “common good register”). Before establishing a common good register, the Act requires a local authority to publish a list of property that it proposes to include in the register, and to consult on this list.
"The Act provides that the list may be published in such a way as the local authority may determine. The local authority should be consistent in how and where it publishes both the list of common good property and the resultant common good register. Both documents should be available in the same place and in the same format. The local authority must ensure that the public can inspect the list of common good property free of charge and access it electronically.
"Members of the public should be able to access the list from the local authority’s own website. The local authority should ensure that members of the public can view the list in person at local council offices, council hubs and local libraries. The local authority should either produce paper copies of the list or ensure that staff in these locations are able to assist members of the public in viewing an electronic version. Advertising the list
"The local authority should publicise the consultation on its website, on social media or in publications which it produces. It may also be possible to invite expressions of interest from the public or have automated notifications. Equally, if the list of common good property is likely to be extensive, the local authority may also wish to place adverts or articles in local papers to reach a wider audience. Length of consultation. The list of common good property should be made publicly available for comment for at least twelve weeks."
In the Borders case, once local councillors have scrutinised their local draft registers the contents are likely to be submitted for public consultation early next year.
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